Smart TV Security - How to Make Your TV as Secure as Possible?

When connecting any device to the internet, including a television, it is very important to make sure you and your family are safe from hackers and other potential threats related to the leakage of your data.

For example, voice-controlled TVs can track everything you watch, what commands you request, and even listen to everything you talk about inside your apartment. It is important to understand that all these features were designed exclusively for your convenience in controlling and personalizing recommendations, however, this has already had serious violations of privacy and confidentiality.

In other words, all SMART TVs allow you to enjoy all the modern possibilities of the TV and internet world, but you should minimize risks before bringing these devices into your home, living room or even bedroom.

Of course, the simplest and most reliable way to protect yourself from surveillance by your smart TV is to disconnect it from the Internet. However, we are not going to discuss this option, as you will lose all the advantages of your TV. That is why we have prepared other tips for minimizing the risks of using a smart TV:

Stick a dark (opaque) temporary sticker on your TV camera whenever you are not using it:

Firstly, there are many elegant webcam cover solutions that you can order online or make yourself.

Secondly, this is really important, because not only hackers, but also services can watch you.

Allowing only a limited number of applications such functions as microphone and camera:

It's all very simple! All applications that you consider to have no need to use the camera or microphone on your smart TV should be disallowed or not allowed at all to use them. Also, all applications that can or should have access to your microphone and web camera should be allowed to do so exclusively when you are using these programs/applications. You will be surprised how many applications, for some reason, are constantly listening, recording and analyzing information outside of your use of them, or even when the TV is off.

IMPORTANT: Please, understand correctly, most of them do it exclusively for your convenience! For example, waiting for your command, etc. However, if you are already reading this article, I don't need to explain to you what this can lead to against you.

Choosing a secure password:

Using a secure password for your home network and WIFI is the most basic step that should be taken regardless of whether you have a SMART TV at home or not. Ignoring this step significantly increases the risks mentioned earlier, as it facilitates the process of hacking your smart TV and other devices in your home connected to the home network / Internet. A complex and secure password - a password containing uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as additional symbols such as !,?, % and &. You can use free password generation programs for such passwords.

Regularly change passwords for particularly important applications:

Many devices, including your smart TV, contain a factory password that needs to be reset and then reinstalled. However, most users either do not know this fact or do not pay due attention to it. It is undoubtedly well known to both hackers and various services. We strongly recommend that you reset all the standard issued by default passwords. You can use free password generation programs to change the default password.

Timely Update of All Software Changes:

Most users do not keep track of new releases and updates of applications in their smart TVs, as they usually do on their smartphone or computer. However, system updates may not always contain all the new features. Primarily they may contain bug fixes related to existing vulnerabilities, or contain additional mechanisms for enhancing your protection and security.

Disable Cookies:

This recommendation will protect your use of the Smart TV exclusively in terms of accessibility to your TV browsing history. You can usually disable cookies in the settings of your browser on the SMART TV, or immediately set up a private, confidential mode of browser use. We recommend doing this right away when setting up to not forget in the future.

Do Not Allow Your Data to be Collected if You Do Not Understand What They Will Be Used For in the Future:

Many tech companies collect (albeit anonymously) data during your use of the TV. This is done to improve their product, and thus your use of it in the future. However, this is a fairly sensitive and delicate matter, as the leakage of this data cannot be controlled by you, and therefore it should be avoided on your part. We do not recommend our users to allow (It should be declined) any requests for collecting and analyzing your data for future analysis, even if they are carried out for the purpose of improving the product.

Network Protection:

Even following the instructions in Step 3 may not be enough if you have really attracted the attention of a hacker or become the target of a special service. We recommend that in the 'WLAN' settings of your router, switch to the latest WPA2 standard. Make sure you also use a FIREWALL, which significantly complicates intrusion into your home.

Possibility to Use Alternative Applications Instead of Built-in Ones:

Examine the possibility of not using some applications on your SMART TV, instead, as an alternative, you can stream (cast) to your TV from your smartphone or computer, on which you can install a VPN in advance. There are also VPN solutions as applications for your SMART TV.

Studying All Terms and Agreements for Each Application Before Installing It:

On Step 7 we talked about how carefully not to allow the use of data collection. However, you may not notice how you allowed this by missing the automatic consent / permission by accepting the user agreement. Therefore, we once again mention this in this point, since there may not be a specific question about your permission in the form of a dialogue with you.

Conclusions:

Using these instructions does not guarantee 100% protection, just as ignoring them does not mean that you will suffer or regret buying a SMART TV. In 99% of cases, nothing bad will happen, as the manufacturer worries about you and thousands of people around the world are working to improve the security of their products and the entire ecosystem as a whole. However, we strongly recommend paying attention to the first three tips, since practically nothing is required for their implementation!